Unfortunately for Nigma Galaxy and their legion of extremely passionate fans, PGL Wallachia Season 4 is another complete wash for the fan favorite squad. They are now mathematically eliminated from the tournament after losing to Na’Vi Junior in their fourth match of the Swiss group stage — a result that sends Nigma straight back to the drawing board.

PGL Wallachia Season 4: Nigma Galaxy Out Again

While I didn’t expect them to make it into the playoffs at Wallachia, this is really something else even by normal Nigma standards. They were supposed to at least beat Na’Vi Junior given the supposed talent difference between the two teams, but they could even manage that.

Miracle-‘s Hiatus

Now, I will concede that they’ve been playing with a stand-in for Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi in the form of Daniel “Ghost” Chan. Miracle- has been on break since April 17th, due to undisclosed personal health issues, as announced by the Nigma Galaxy organization on their official X account.

Ghost had actually been a part of Nigma for about two weeks at the start of 2024, which isn’t nearly enough time for them to form real chemistry with him. Either way, they chose him as their substitute for Miracle-, and that always comes with the disadvantage of having to play with someone that you don’t play with regularly.

But still, even with Ghost around in Miracle-‘s stead, the rest of Nigma should still be more talented overall than the entirety of Na’Vi Junior’s roster. Veteran Baqyt “Zayac” Emiljanov might be the lone exception to this, given how successful he was with Team Secret in 2022 — but nah, he doesn’t really make up the difference in skill.

Anachronistic and Outdated

This is why it’s so shocking that they lost to Na’Vi Junior. Both games in the series were actually quite close, with some serious back-and-forth between both teams throughout all stages of each game. But some crucial misplays, particularly when it came to playing high ground situations, cost them the match. I mean, how do you even manage to throw away a 14,000 gold lead with Aegis of the Immortal in tow on what should have been an unkillable Medusa?

They’re also still sticking to their old guns in the sense that their supports are way poorer than they should be by modern Dota 2 standards, which just doesn’t fly anymore. Supports with farm can be much more impactful these days than the classic, “position 6” style, and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like Omar “OmaR” Moughrabi and Maroun “GH” Merhej understand this.

It was like this even when Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi was an active support player on the roster. Dota has simply evolved in a way that doesn’t suit their playstyle anymore, and it might take a huge shakeup for them to field a team that actually plays modern Dota. The thing is, this would mean that the identity of the squad, which is “old fan favorite International champions trying to recapture former glory”, would just disappear overnight.

But alas, they might just have to make that difficult decision, which I’m not sure would sit too well with their fanbase. Their supporters may have to swallow such a bitter pill if they want the organization to return to winning ways, though, so they might just have to accept any incoming changes in this regard.

An Uncertain Future

After PGL Wallachia Season 4, Nigma Galaxy is slated to play at DreamLeague Season 26. They qualified for this particular tournament through the MESWA (Middle East and Southwest Asia) regional qualifiers, which comes as no surprise given how completely bereft of decent teams that region is aside from Virtus.pro and Nigma themselves. The same lineup that just got knocked out at Wallachia will play at DreamLeague, but I personally think that’ll be this roster’s final test before drastic changes are made.

Nigma Galaxy GH PGL Wallachia Season 4
Image credit: PGL

And honestly, I don’t fancy their chances at DreamLeague either. All the usual suspects will be there, like PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Liquid, Tundra Esports, and more — and I’ve already harped on how Nigma just crumble whenever they face actually good competition at any given event. Hell, they couldn’t even get past Na’Vi Junior like I said, and they’re not exactly the cream of the crop in the current competitive season.

With Miracle- continuing to battle his health issues, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing this roster stick together for much longer — unless they pull off something special at DreamLeague. At this point, I’m honestly surprised Miracle- hasn’t retired yet, but I guess he wants to try for another International title before he hangs up the mouse and keyboard.

Either way, this PGL Wallachia Season 4 run was a complete failure for Nigma Galaxy. Not even a top eight result? Maybe they’ll surprise everyone at DreamLeague, but I’m not really holding my breath.